PAYTE
Extension Architect South London
Principal Designer & Higher Risk Building Expert
Our South London architects have extensive experience in extension architecture, specialising in loft conversions, basement extensions, bespoke extensions, rear extensions, two-storey and single-storey extensions, contemporary designs, double-storey extensions, Mansard roof extensions, and ground-floor extensions.
house extension architect South London
Our firm specialises in house architecture in South London, most commonly Victorian houses. We take pride in helping our clients enhance their property value while optimising space. We create bespoke designs and contemporary design extensions with interior reconfigurations to maximise natural light and extra space. Our creative design team elevates the planning process to a new level.
As a leading architectural practice, we specialise in helping homeowners navigate the planning process, building regulations, planning permissions, party walls, and building control. Our experienced team handles all regulatory challenges in extension projects, making your home’s transformation seamless and stress-free.
We carry out architectural work for rear, wraparound, side return, or infill extensions to best suit your space and increase its value. We begin with our design process, initial drawings, structural calculations, and 3D visualisations to assist clients in envisioning the transformation, alongside a precise scope of work for the building contractor.
Our expertise ensures that each project is expertly designed to meet your specific needs.
As specialist London extension architects, we develop carefully considered designs that respond to local planning policies and modern living needs.
apartment architects South London
We specialise in providing comprehensive design and architectural services for apartment extensions in South London. Our offerings include detailed planning advice, design layout changes, custom joinery, and regulatory drawing preparations.
Whether you are looking to completely revamp your apartment’s layout or to implement specific modifications, we manage every aspect of the project.
Our services encompass the entire process, from securing planning permission and building approvals to obtaining landlord consents and the necessary license to alter documentation. We also handle all planning applications ourselves.
Working with a trusted architect firm ensures your apartment project is carefully managed from initial design through to final delivery.
extension conversion package
3 Meter rear extensions package
£60,000.00 INC. VAT
What’s included:
6 Meter rear extensions package
£104,700.00 INC. VAT
What’s included:
At Payte Architects London, our rear extension service is about making it simple to gain more space without losing control of cost or complexity. With over 10 years’ experience on South London homes, we offer two fixed‑price packages at three and six metres (including VAT), so you choose how far to extend and we handle design, approvals and on‑site work up to first fix.
You’ll work with a friendly architectural team that actually picks up the phone. All architectural work is carried out by architects registered with the Architects Registration Board (ARB) or chartered with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), and we coordinate closely with our dedicated extension build team so design and construction stay joined‑up from day one.
We take care of the planning route – from Lawful Development Certificates for three‑metre projects to prior‑approval applications for six‑metre schemes – using our experience with boroughs such as Haringey Council’s planning team, Lambeth Council’s planning service and Brent Council planning to shape proposals around what local councils typically support.
Throughout, we keep communication simple and regular so you always know where your project is and what’s coming next, aiming for a bright, well‑built South London extension that quickly becomes the main room everyone uses.
Exclusions
This package is not applicable to property where you need planning permission or listed building consent, or if there is an article 4 on your property.
In addition to the above, the following exclusion applies:
- Party wall award
- Building control fees
- Any specialist consultants
- Asbestos removal fees
- Finishing (sanitary ware, tiling, floor finishing, wall finishing, joinery).
- Party wall award
- Building control fees
- Any specialist consultants
- Asbestos removal fees
- Finishing (sanitary ware, tiling, floor finishing, wall finishing, joinery).
ARRANGE A FREE CONSULTATION
Arrange a free consultation with one of our ARB or RIBA extension architects today. We offer clients a complimentary 30-minute consultation.
FREE NO OBLIGATION CONSULTATION
VIRTUAL CONSULTATION AVAILABLE
ON SITE CONSULTATION AVAILABLE
Innovative South London Extensions Crafted with Exceptional Architecture
Our South London architects create smart, sustainable extensions that suit your space perfectly.
Wraparound
We specialise in wrap-around extensions. This is a popular way to expand and transform properties. This extension combines a rear and side addition. It creates an L-shape that expands ground-floor space. This is ideal for open-plan kitchens, living spaces, or adaptable rooms that fit modern lifestyles. We handle everything from design and planning permission to construction.
Single Storey
A single-storey extension can really boost space in your South London property. It can be added to the back or side of the property. This addition offers more space for a modern kitchen, a living area, or a home office. This extension improves the flow inside and makes the property more practical. Our architectural team makes it easy for you to get great results that suit your property.
Multi Storey
A multi-storey extension in South London can provide a lot of space. You can use it for extra bedrooms, bigger living areas, or more bathrooms. Building up on your property lets you make the most of it without losing any garden space. We take care of everything. This includes planning, permissions, and construction. We ensure your extension fits well with the current architecture.
Side Return
A side return extension utilises the unused space beside your home. You often find this addon in Victorian and Edwardian buildings in South London. Clients can extend into this narrow area to make a wider, open-plan kitchen. This change will let in more natural light. Our architects are experts in side return extensions. These designs boost functionality and add to the property’s value.
Rear Extension
A rear extension expands the back of your property. This gives you room for an open-plan kitchen, a larger dining area, or a more spacious living room. This is ideal for clients looking to improve their ground floor. These extensions boost natural light and link indoor and outdoor spaces smoothly. We create rear extensions that match your home’s style. They also boost efficiency and value.
Seamless Home Extensions from Concept to Completion
Our team of architects, designers, and builders in South London creates stylish and practical home extensions. We handle each stage, from the first meeting to the final build, with care and precision.
Free Initial Consultation
In your 30-minute free consultation, we’ll discuss your project vision, design choices, size, and budget for the extension. This process ensures that we can align your ideas with the practical aspects of the project with accuracy.
Full Architecture Service
We offer bespoke services for home extensions. This features on-site assessments, detailed drawings, 3D visualisations, planning applications, and tender management. We customise each service to meet your unique needs.
Planning & Permissions
Our South London architects focus on extension planning. Our professional practice handles it all, from the initial idea to final approval. We carefully find ways to handle local rules, stay within zoning laws, and meet building codes.
Complete Building Works
We’re a full-service architecture firm that specialises in extensions. We have in-house architects, interior designers, and building contractors. Our team ensure easy collaboration, guiding your project till its delivery.
Local Topic
General information only. Planning and licensing rules change and depend on the individual property. This article is not legal or professional advice.
SOUTH LONDON — ROOFLIGHTS AND LANTERNS: TOP-LIGHTING AN EXTENSION (DOC L; BSI)
A square metre of glass in the roof delivers roughly three times the daylight of the same glass in a wall. That one ratio explains the skyline of South London’s back gardens — the lanterns over Peckham kitchens, the long rooflights above East Dulwich side returns — better than any fashion theory.
Top light is simply the best value daylight there is. But the glass over your head carries rules and physics the brochure skips, so here’s the working knowledge.
Flat, lantern or opening
Three families. The flat rooflight — frameless-looking, flush, quietly contemporary — is the default for side returns and works hardest when placed against the junction with the old house, throwing light backwards into the plan rather than just downwards onto an island.
The lantern adds volume and drama and suits the wider rear extension; its price is more frame, more junctions, more cleaning. Opening rooflights add purge ventilation and smoke relief to the mix — valuable over kitchens, essential over some stairs.
Placement beats size. A modest rooflight in the dark corner outworks a huge one over glazed doors that were already bright. We draw daylight before we draw product.
The rules over your head
Approved Document L counts every rooflight toward your extension’s glazing allowance — the rough quarter-of-floor-area rule — and taxes them honestly, because glass loses heat faster than insulated roof.
Modern units earn their place: look for whole-unit U-values and be sceptical of centre-pane numbers, which flatter.
Overhead glazing also has its own safety logic — the established practice is a laminated inner pane, so nothing falls in shards — with Approved Document K covering glazing generally and the BSI standards for overhead glazing setting out the detail.
The NARM, the rooflight manufacturers’ association, publishes clear technical guidance, and the GGF covers the glazing side generally.
Two practical notes from South London jobs. Condensation is a design issue, not a mystery — a kitchen’s worth of steam will find cold spots on a cheap frame, so thermally broken frames matter as much as the glass. And overheating is real: a big unshaded lantern facing south turns August lunch into a greenhouse experiment.
Solar-control glass, blinds designed in from day one, or simply orienting the big glass away from the peak sun — decided at drawing stage, cheap; retrofitted, ugly.
Top light rewards the plan that was designed around it and punishes the one that ordered it from a catalogue at the end. Which, conveniently for this page’s argument, is the difference an architect makes.
Put the sky where the plan needs it. It’s the best lamp you’ll ever own, and it’s free to run.
South London Home Extension Planning, Design, and Construction
Feasibility Studies for Home Extensions
Our South London property extension architects carry out comprehensive feasibility studies. They look at structural integrity, space potential, and costs. This ensures that property expansions are smart and efficient.
Planning Permission for Extensions
Our team of architects collaborates with local councils. We navigate planning policies, building codes, and zoning laws to ensure smooth compliance. Our expertise simplifies the process, providing a stress-free experience.
Project Management and Contractor Coordination
We monitor construction progress, project timelines, and project quality. This way, we ensure everything operates without issues and according to schedule. We focus on details to ensure everything runs smoothly from start to finish.
Sustainable Extension Materials & Energy Efficiency
Our eco-friendly extension designs and insulation solutions improve property energy efficiency, sustainability, and comfort. Our approach reduces environmental impact and improves thermal performance.
Structural Engineering and Load-Bearing Analysis
We check that extensions meet safety, stability, and regulatory standards. We do this with structural assessments and compliance checks. Our team makes sure that a property extension blends in well, is safe, strong, and built to endure.
Interior To Exterior Extension Flow and Aesthetic Integration
Our architects mix new extensions with the current style. This creates a smooth transition between the old and the new. Our architects respect the original structure while enhancing functionality, aesthetics, and flow.
why work with us?
Fast Turn Around
Our team of extension experts completes projects quickly. We use smart planning, a skilled team, and clear project management goals. This makes the process smooth and fast.
Fixed Pricing
We offer clear, fixed pricing for architectural and building services for extensions. This helps clients understand the costs better. This approach allows for confident budgeting.
We Maximise Value
We help clients get the best results for extensions. We balance investment benefits with a comfortable living space. Our expert advice ensures maximum financial value.
Turnkey Operation
A complete solution for South London extensions, interior design, and construction. Our clients relax while we manage the project. From concept and planning to interior detailing and build.
recent EXTENSION projects
Local Topic
General information only. Planning and licensing rules change and depend on the individual property. This article is not legal or professional advice.
SOUTH LONDON — THE EXTENSION FLOOR: BUILD-UPS, INSULATION AND MEETING THE OLD SLAB (DOCS C AND L)
A floor is the part of a South London extension nobody discusses at dinner parties and everybody lives on for thirty years.
It’s also where three separate problems — damp, heat and levels — meet in a sandwich about 300 millimetres thick, and the order of the layers decides whether the room works.
The sandwich
From the ground up, a modern extension floor runs roughly: compacted hardcore, blinding, damp-proof membrane, concrete slab, insulation, screed or boards, finish.
Variations exist — insulation below slab, suspended timber where ground conditions argue for it — but the jobs never change. Keep ground moisture out, which is Approved Document C‘s department, with the membrane lapped and linked to the walls’ DPC so the barrier is continuous rather than decorative.
Keep heat in, which is Approved Document L‘s, with insulation thicknesses that surprise people who last built in the nineties. And carry the loads — the Concrete Centre publishes the ground-floor guidance the trade actually uses.
Underfloor heating has quietly become the default down here, and the floor build-up is where it succeeds or sulks. Insulation below the pipes so the heat goes up into the room rather than down into Lambeth, screed depth matched to the system, floor finishes chosen for conductivity. Tile loves it. Thick carpet fights it.
Where new floor meets old house
The junction is the thinking part. The Victorian house behind your extension probably stands on a suspended timber floor with air moving beneath it — those little iron grilles at ankle height outside are its lungs.
Pour a new slab across them and the old floor’s ventilation dies; the Property Care Association can tell you what happens next, and it involves the words “dry rot” and an invoice.
So the airflow gets re-routed — ducted through or around the new slab — and drawn, not left to the builder’s memory.
Levels want equal care. “Level throughout” is the modern brief, and it’s achievable, but it’s a designed outcome. The new build-up’s 300 millimetres has to land exactly flush with a Victorian floor that was never quite level to begin with, while the doors to the garden hit their own threshold rules. Millimetres, decided on paper.
One South London-specific caution to end on: check what you’re building over. Made ground, old yard slabs, the odd forgotten well — the ground across Southwark, Lewisham and Lambeth has history, and NHBC standards treat ground assessment as step zero for good reason. The floor is the one part of the extension you can’t easily revisit.
Get the sandwich right and it disappears from your life, which is precisely what a good floor should do.
FAQ
Services
We offer a comprehensive suite of architectural services for South London, our skilled architects each specialise in distinct disciplines. This diversity allows us to tailor our approach to meet the various facets of architectural design.